Supporters hoping to attend next year’s World Cup final will have to pay thousands of pounds for the cheapest ticket.
Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe has said it is “astonished” by Fifa’s “extortionate” pricing strategy, and called for ticket sales to be “halted immediately”.
The Football Supporters’ Association’s England Fans’ Embassy said it was a “slap in the face” for supporters.
FIFA has not yet commented on its pricing decisions.
BBC Sport understands tickets for the final in MetLife Stadium, New York, are in three tiers:
- ‘Supporter value tier’ – £3,119 ($4,185)
- ‘Supporter standard tier’ – £4,162 ($5,560)
- ‘Supporter premium tier’ – £6,615 ($8,860)
Tickets to FIFA’s showpiece event are as much as seven times more expensive than at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the lowest-priced ticket at that event costing £450.
There are no concessions across any of its tickets for children or other groups.
And, in a departure from recent tournaments, group stage games are priced based on the perceived popularity of the teams involved, rather than at a flat rate.
This means, for example, that England fans face paying more than Scotland fans.
Fifa has not provided details yet on how this “popularity” has been determined.
In Qatar, group stage fixtures had set prices of £68.50, £164.50 and £219.
But for England’s match against Croatia on 17 June, tickets cost £198, £373 or £523.
England v Ghana is £164, £320 and £447, with England v Panama £164, £346 and £462.
Scotland’s first two group games are cheaper than England’s.
Against Haiti, the prices will be £134, £298 or £372, with Morocco set as £163, £320 and £447. The final group game against Brazil is priced the same as England v Croatia.
Quarter-finals for all teams are £507, £757, and £1,073, with the semi-finals at £686, £1,819, and £2,363.
For the entire tournament through to the final, it will cost about £5,225 for one person to go to all eight matches, up to £8,580 in the mid-price range, or £12,357 for the top tier.
In 2022, it would have cost £1,466, £2,645 or £3,914, though that was for seven games rather than eight.
The details emerged as the main ticket ballot opened on Thursday afternoon.
On Monday, members of national supporters’ clubs will get the chance to enter a random draw for individual games, or to follow their team through to the final. There are about 4,000 tickets for each game available through the official supporters’ groups.
All other tickets are allocated through the ballot process, other than those held back by Fifa for corporate partners. Dynamic pricing is not being used in the primary or national association ballots.
FSE demands talks over ‘extortionate’ ticket prices
FSE explained why it was calling on FIFA to stop the ticket sale process, arguing that it needs to rethink its pricing policy.
“In the price tables gradually and confidentially released by Fifa, tickets allocated to national associations…are reaching astronomical levels,” it said in a statement.
“Adding insult to injury, the lowest price category will not be available to the most dedicated supporters through their national associations, as FIFA chose to reserve the scarce number of category four tickets for general sales, subject to dynamic ticket pricing.
“For the first time in World Cup history, no consistent price will be offered across all group stage games. Instead, FIFA is introducing a variable pricing policy dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture.
“Fans of different national teams will therefore have to pay different prices for the same category at the same stage of the tournament, without any transparency on the pricing structure enforced by Fifa.”
The Football Supporters’ Association’s England Fans’ Embassy said: “These prices are a slap in the face to supporters who support their team outside of the flagship tournament that appears every four years.
“A game for supporters, loyalty has been thrown out of the window, and supporters of the participating nations have been completely let down.”
England fan Luke Buxton told BBC Radio 5 Live he felt the prices were “absolutely outrageous”.
“It’s a big betrayal to the most dedicated fans of every nation that’s following their side at the World Cup next summer,” he added.
“We were planning on going to the group stages initially, then coming home, then flying out for the knockouts. Ideally, the round of 16, but it may be too expensive. So the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
“However, with these ticket prices coming today, I am not sure I am going to make the knockout stages at all now.”
Scotland fan John Wallan told BBC Radio 5 Live he was trying to work out how he could still take his family.
“I am going, that is definite,” he said. “But I have two children as well. They are 19 and 12, so everything has been ramped up.
“I think for a family it will be £15,000-£20,000. I would love to take the kids because it may not happen for another 30 years.
“We’ve not booked anything yet. We are still deciding if it is one, three or four of us who go.”
It is not yet clear if fans who are successful in their application for ‘follow your team’ tickets will have the whole amount taken off their credit cards in January.
If their team is knocked out, a refund for the unattended matches would be issued to the card.
There will not be any dynamic pricing in this sale, but prices are likely to be considerably higher if fans try to buy off FIFA’s resale site following this phase.
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